Headliners

Magic - The game

February 8, 1996|By L.C. Johnson of The Sentinel Staff

Magic guard Darrell Armstrong was activated from the injured list and will compete in the NBA All-Star Slam Dunk competition this weekend at the Alamodome in San Antonio. Armstrong, 6 feet 1, had been on the injured list since Jan. 30 with a contusion on his lower right leg.

To make room on the 12-man roster, the Magic placed rookie forward David Vaughn on the injured list, said John Gabriel, team vice president of basketball operations/player personnel. Vaughn is out with strep throat and will have to sit out a minimum of five games.

For the Magic players and representatives who are not attending the All-Star Weekend festivities, they will have five days off until the next game. The Magic will play host to the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday. They will then be idle for two more days before playing back-to-back games against Milwaukee (at home) on Feb. 16 and Miami (on the road) on Feb. 17.

Magic radio play-by-play man David Steele filled for Chip Caray on the Magic television broadcast for the Orlando-Detroit game. Caray was on assignment doing the Lakers-Nets broadcast for TBS.

The Magic endured the worst fourth quarter in franchise history Wednesday night in the 97-83 loss to the Pistons. The Magic were held to two points and one field goal - both of which are all-time lows - in the fourth quarter where they were outscored, 24-7.

Before Wednesday night, the Magic were 24-3 when leading at halftime and 27-3 when leading after the third quarter. The Magic led, 48-46, at the half and 76-73 after the third quarter before falling to the Pistons.

Magic guard Nick Anderson was held to five points against the Pistons. He had been averaging 23 points over his previous four games.

After a 9-13 start, Detroit Pistons first-year coach Doug Collins has seen his team rebound nicely. Detroit got its record to 21-18 before dropping four of its next five entering Wednesday's game with the Magic. The Pistons' turnaround can be attributed to defense. Detroit gave up nearly 106 points per game last season and is yielding 93.3 points per game this season.

Minutiae: Former middleweight boxing champion Thomas ''The Hit Man'' Hearns was in attendance at the Palace. Hearns is a native of Detroit. . . . Pistons guard Allan Houston has averaged better than 20 points per game over his past 39 games after averaging just under 9 points in the first six games of the season.